Homebrew Games like this just piss me off

[carlsson]

Hmm.. Jesus, is he subject to copyright and intellectual properties? Otherwise I imagine the Smurf could have been replaced by Jesus, who is both an already famous character and someone who is said to love all the children so rather fitting for a children's game.

[Nukey Shay]

Jesus is a property owned by the Catholic church. Anything other is a counterfeit Jesus, you pagan.

[CatPix]

I think the issue is that people are accustomed to AA's store relatively "low prices" so whenever they see other prices, they jump up.

 

As mentionned already, if you want a boxed AA VCS game, you're already up to 50$. But Albert uses old stock Atari carts and PCB so it's already a cut in price.

If you look at other games, a game using a Melody, brand new PCB and electronics jump from 25$ (no box) to 30$ (still no box).

 

And again, those games are, compared to other homebrew market, mass-produced. So Albert can cust costs by ordering larger quantities. And he probably took some leap of faith here and there when he started this, which helps cutting costs but put a pressure on the budget.

 

Here we have a boxed game, plus manual and overlays. According to AA's price, if those are used shells and PCB, it's 25$ already. If it's a new PCB, it's 30$.

And still sticking to AA's price, the box is 25$, so we're at 50$, or let's count 55$ for a new PCB.

Then you gotta add the overlays. They are not paper, but plastic. I have no idea how much it cost to print and cut overlays, but let's say 5$ for 2 pieces.

Well we're at 60$ already.

 

I think I read the 72$ figure include shipping from Canada? well 12$ for shipping may sound excessive, but I can't tell. And even it that's 7$, it left 5$ to make up for the destroyed Smurfs boxes and manuals.

 

Sure, going from 25$ to 72$ is a leap, but that's what you gotta expect when getting a complete game. And keep in mind that this is only counting the bare physical stuff.

 

If the developers were to count the hours spent to create the game, all the crating needed to make the carts and boxes and shipping them, the price would jump over the 100$ mark easily I think.

Which I don't think it will happen, but certainly 72$ is not a grand theft for a physical homebrew...

 

Just Another example I can think of is Rene g7400's C7060 Odyssey2/Videopac multicart.

It's made with new PCB (new shell? not sure but seems to be) and are made on a "waiting list" basis. and it include a color manual.

The price is 44€, which is about 60$. (shipping NOT included)

And it does NOT include a box.

When it was released, nobody amongst the Videopac/O2 fans complained about a high price of accused ReneG7400 of trying to get money from homebrew fans...

Edited August 8, 2014 by CatPix

[Albert]

Here we have a boxed game, plus manual and overlays. According to AA's price, if those are used shells and PCB, it's 25$ already. If it's a new PCB, it's 30$.

And still sticking to AA's price, the box is 25$, so we're at 50$, or let's count 55$ for a new PCB.

 

Just a minor correction here--all games in the AtariAge Store use new PCBs. There is a significant differences between the PCBs that use older "legacy" parts and the Melody PCBs, though.

 

..Al

[CatPix]

Must have missread something somewhere then Thanks for correcting!

[Nukey Shay]

Faced a similar situation, tho? No details...just asking.

[+doctorclu]

Fair enough. I thought the video spoke for itself, but I guess not. If you viewed the video you'd see it's a guy that runs through the same 4-5 screens over and over again with no change, just needing to occasionally jump over something and maybe avoid 1-2 flying things. It's unoriginal, not fun-looking at all, and offers little to no challenge. You mentioned that it does have a multicolored character, a soundtrack, and a box, but I sure hope your standards are higher than that!

 

Have to admit while the characters and background look fun the demo screens show the same four screens over and over.

 

I thought at first they showed the video similar to Montezuma's Revenge and that was equally uninspiring of climbing ladders, going down corridors and my reaction was the same.

 

The positive spin I can give to this is that they are creatively working to recover from the unfortunate Smurf Rescue bit, and they came up with an alternate plan and character design quickly, which is great. Just will take time. With people already investing money in this the project will be rushed when games do in fact take time, that would be my only concern.

 

But I do get what you're saying on this. Between what happened to Smurf Rescue (not their fault but disheartening) and the delays in Space Raid my current feeling towards the homebrew scene in the Intellivision is... meh. And hopefully when I get over the "meh" that will give developers some time to put together some really polished games.

Edited August 8, 2014 by doctorclu

[Necron99]

 

Have to admit while the characters and background look fun the demo screens show the same four screens over and over.

 

I thought at first they showed the video similar to Montezuma's Revenge and that was equally uninspiring of climbing ladders, going down corridors and my reaction was the same.

 

The positive spin I can give to this is that they are creatively working to recover from the unfortunate Smurf Rescue bit, and they came up with an alternate plan and character design quickly, which is great. Just will take time. With people already investing money in this the project will be rushed when games do in fact take time, that would be my only concern.

Maybe you saw the other videos that were posted here for Sydney Hunter and the Mayan's Revenge (NES) or Sydney Hunter and Caverns of Death (SNES)?

[ACFinPGH]

A short clip of a homebrew creator after selling all 300 CIB copies of his most recent game. Absolutely disgusting.

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2014 by ACFinPGH

[nanochess]

 

Have to admit while the characters and background look fun the demo screens show the same four screens over and over.

 

I thought at first they showed the video similar to Montezuma's Revenge and that was equally uninspiring of climbing ladders, going down corridors and my reaction was the same.

 

The positive spin I can give to this is that they are creatively working to recover from the unfortunate Smurf Rescue bit, and they came up with an alternate plan and character design quickly, which is great. Just will take time. With people already investing money in this the project will be rushed when games do in fact take time, that would be my only concern.

 

But I do get what you're saying on this. Between what happened to Smurf Rescue (not their fault but disheartening) and the delays in Space Raid my current feeling towards the homebrew scene in the Intellivision is... meh. And hopefully when I get over the "meh" that will give developers some time to put together some really polished games.

 

I'm also somewhat disappointed by the delay in Space Raid, but c'mon, this is the first Intellivision game from Collectorvision.

 

And J-F, Tobie, Crapahute and 5-11under (designing an all new-PCB) are trying to put together the best product.

 

I'm pretty sure that after Space Raid is shipped, every new Intellivision game announced by Collectorvision will be available faster

 

And if you're looking for a polished game: Princess Quest for Intellivision is now in beta-testing

 

This game could have been ready some weeks ago and I would like to pass whole days coding games, but I've a Real Life™ work.

[retroillucid]

And J-F, Tobie, Crapahute and 5-11under (designing an all new-PCB) are trying to put together the best product.

 

I'm pretty sure that after Space Raid is shipped, every new Intellivision game announced by Collectorvision will be available faster

 

Exactly, once the PCBs will be ready to manufactured, everything will go alot faster

This's the only missing piece of the puzzle actually

For next releases, there will be no more delay in the production

 

Price for our INtv games (CIB) will always be $50 , maybe even $45 at some point

The only exception is Sydney Hunter , wich I already explained the reasons why it's $60

 

Again, I'm sincerly sorry for the delays

[+5-11under]

 

I'm also somewhat disappointed by the delay in Space Raid, but c'mon, this is the first Intellivision game from Collectorvision.

 

And J-F, Tobie, Crapahute and 5-11under (designing an all new-PCB) are trying to put together the best product.

 

I'm pretty sure that after Space Raid is shipped, every new Intellivision game announced by Collectorvision will be available faster

 

And if you're looking for a polished game: Princess Quest for Intellivision is now in beta-testing

 

This game could have been ready some weeks ago and I would like to pass whole days coding games, but I've a Real Life™ work.

 

You surprised us, or at least me. Last fall/winter I made prototype PCBs for ColecoVision (new style), Vectrex, Atari 2600, CV1.2, and more, but not for Intellivision. I had worked on it a bit, but since there was no need at the time, I dismissed it until some unknown future date, and moved forward with the others. Shortly thereafter, I got "the call" that we needed Intellivision PCBs. The Intellivision PCB format is pretty complicated, so there was much education. Therefore some of the blame for the delay is mine.

 

Don't blame me for the price, though.

[+doctorclu]

 

And if you're looking for a polished game: Princess Quest for Intellivision is now in beta-testing

 

This game could have been ready some weeks ago and I would like to pass whole days coding games, but I've a Real Life™ work.

 

Princess Quest? Have to check that out.

 

I understand about real life, just trying to see if developers can't communicate a bit more when delays happen and especially when money has been sent.

[+doctorclu]

A short clip of a homebrew creator after selling all 300 CIB copies of his most recent game. Absolutely disgusting.

 

 

 

giphy.gif

 

You know I used to like how he would swim in his money. Unforunately diving into a pool of coins... well, that would smash you up pretty good.

 

But I got to thinking, maybe a pool of dollar bills? Like diving into a pile of leaves.

[nanochess]

 

Princess Quest? Have to check that out.

 

I understand about real life, just trying to see if developers can't communicate a bit more when delays happen and especially when money has been sent.

 

For MSX I only announce the published game, for Colecovision typically I announce when the ROM is finished, but for Intellivision/Atari, well, I like to put a continuous stream of news of development because people likes it.

 

Once the game is in hands of publisher, in this case J-F and Tobie, now I'm sure they will keep people informed about the progress specially for Atari/Inty people

[+bennybingo]

A short clip of a homebrew creator after selling all 300 CIB copies of his most recent game. Absolutely disgusting.

 

 

 

giphy.gif

You might want to photoshop that image, and change all the gold coins to a single mound of pennies. Consider [email protected] $60 per copy, it amounts to $18,000 before:

 

• coding time
• material costs (gatefold box, PCB, cart shell, overlays and manual)
• physical production cost (creation of all of the above)
• creation of artwork for box, manual and overlays (yep...artists get paid sometimes)
• hand assembly (putting together each CIB game from all of the above)
• packing and shipping 300 packages
• Taxes / PayPal fees

So...what size pile of cash do you actually think would be left to dive into? My guess...they would end up smashing their head on the cold concrete floor.

[LS_Dracon]

You might want to photoshop that image, and change all the gold coins to a single mound of pennies. Consider [email protected] $60 per copy, it amounts to $18,000 before:

 

• coding time
• material costs (gatefold box, PCB, cart shell, overlays and manual)
• physical production cost (creation of all of the above)
• creation of artwork for box, manual and overlays (yep...artists get paid sometimes)
• hand assembly (putting together each CIB game from all of the above)
• packing and shipping 300 packages
• Taxes / PayPal fees

So...what size pile of cash do you actually think would be left to dive into? My guess...they would end up smashing their head on the cold concrete floor.

Done!

[ACFinPGH]

You might want to photoshop that image, and change all the gold coins to a single mound of pennies. Consider [email protected] $60 per copy, it amounts to $18,000 before:

 

• coding time
• material costs (gatefold box, PCB, cart shell, overlays and manual)
• physical production cost (creation of all of the above)
• creation of artwork for box, manual and overlays (yep...artists get paid sometimes)
• hand assembly (putting together each CIB game from all of the above)
• packing and shipping 300 packages
• Taxes / PayPal fees

So...what size pile of cash do you actually think would be left to dive into? My guess...they would end up smashing their head on the cold concrete floor.

 

Couldn't agree more. Not much profit margin here. Hard to believe people are willing to put as much of their own time into making these games as they do, but I'm glad they decide to do it. Keep up the good work, it is very much appreciated (by almost everyone).

[NIAD]

A short clip of a homebrew creator after selling all 300 CIB copies of his most recent game. Absolutely disgusting.

 

 

 

giphy.gif

Take your whiny, piss-poor attitude somewhere else... it's not welcome around here. For that matter, PDog's isn't welcome as well!

[ACFinPGH]

Take your whiny, piss-poor attitude somewhere else... it's not welcome around here. For that matter, PDog's isn't welcome as well!

The post you're referring to was sarcasm, hence a cartoon duck. My thoughts on the matter of homebrew pricing certainly don't align with PDogs. I'm nothing but grateful for all the incredible work that is being done.

[NIAD]

The post you're referring to was sarcasm, hence a cartoon duck. My thoughts on the matter of homebrew pricing certainly don't align with PDogs. I'm nothing but grateful for all the incredible work that is being done.

Adding "Absolutely disgusting" at the end of your post says a lot to me and probably others. Now if you ended that post with "Just busting your chops" or something along those lines or even included one of these , I and many others probably would have had a good laugh.

[jetset]

Uhhh...Roger that, thread now heading south.

[Gamemoose]

Adding "Absolutely disgusting" at the end of your post says a lot to me and probably others. Now if you ended that post with "Just busting your chops" or something along those lines or even included one of these , I and many others probably would have had a good laugh.

Uh....I got the sarcasm loud and clear. The Scrooge McDuck image was what broke through the joke barrier.

 

Jeezum Crow....lighten up some of you. It's games! On old consoles! Rejoice! Be happy! Have a Shasta!

[AtariBrian]

Uh....I got the sarcasm loud and clear. The Scrooge McDuck image was what broke through the joke barrier.

 

Jeezum Crow....lighten up some of you. It's games! On old consoles! Rejoice! Be happy! Have a Shasta!

Maybe he should come over to the other side ... and start buying Atari homebrews He may need to find more space in his house though .

[NIAD]

Maybe he should come over to the other side ... and start buying Atari homebrews He may need to find more space in his house though .

How about the Neo-Geo homebrew scene! They'd have a field day with some of those prices.